Physicist Ed Leeper has been active for nearly three
decades, working with epidemiologist Nancy Wertheimer, PhD, in
the area of research that has explored the possible health
risks of AC magnetic fields. In Silencing the Fields he draws
together in one resource the related work that has been done by
various scientists, engineers, and electricians on evaluating
and reducing AC magnetic fields. He has been at the center of
that work, from its beginning.

The "politics" and the technical difficulties of getting
changes made by a power company are discussed. And the human
side. Information your power company may not want you to know,
or at least won't volunteer - and things they do want you to
understand. (They have the idea that they are not really
ogres, but are fathers and mothers and homeowners themselves.)

A power company will not spend large amounts to reduce
fields. Indeed, they may not be allowed or encouraged to do so
by state regulatory agencies. (Since such costs get passed
through to the electric rates for all customers, a state
Utilities Commission usually has the final decision.) But
certain low-cost changes may be possible - especially if we
can argue that there are other reasons to "upgrade" a line.
(Better, more well-maintained lines may make lower fields, and
conserve energy as well. See, for instance, sample chapter 65,
elsewhere in this site.)

However, the fields we find in our homes may have little
to do with the equipment or actions of our power company.
Often field remediation is something we can do ourselves, or
have done for us at a reasonable cost. And we may improve the
electrical safety and "code compliance" of our homes in the
process. Silencing the Fields describes all the ways that have
been found to do those things.

Contents:

Part I - High Magnetic Fields - Avoiding them or Reducing them
(introductory material)

Part II - Water Line Currents - Do they Matter?
(perhaps the biggest source of residential fields)

Part III - Mitigating Water-line-current Fields
(measures that can reduce water line currents and/or their field production)

Part IV - Wiring Errors and Anomalies
(the various errors or defects that produce field-generating loops of current inside a house)

Part V - Power Company Wiring - Distribution Lines
(the lines that bring power to a neighborhood or to an individual house, and how they may produce or not produce fields)

Part VI - Power Company Wiring - Transmission Lines
(high-voltage lines that carry power long distances - their fields and the difficulty of doing anything about them)

Part VII - Magnetic Shielding and "Conduit Shielding"
(the "obvious" way to reduce fields that is usually disappointing or exorbitant, or both - with exceptions)

Part VIII - Appliance Fields
(fields that may be the highest we see, but are localized - various fixes, for various appliances - mainly distance)

Part IX - Available Magnetic Field Meters
(35 makes and models in the range from $40 to $730 - their convenience, their accuracy, their quirks - with photos)

Appendices
(technical details for electricians, plumbers, power company technicians using a "Beast of Burden" instrument/pipe thawers)